Four tips for better giving

“I always encourage people to search their own passion and to align their giving with that passion,” Vargas said. “Start with something that is attractive to you and try to stick with that for awhile.”

Think outside your box: Giving to causes or institutions that you care about is a no-brainer way to streamline your giving. Giving to groups that get a big bang for your buck is another.

Author Friedman is a big fan of the latter option. While he is a graduate of Stanford University and a resident of Oak Park, Ill., his go-to charity is the Against Malaria Foundation, a U.K.-based group that provides insecticide-treated nets to fight malaria in developing countries.

The AMF has been the top-ranked ranked GiveWell charity for the last three years, due in part to the program’s impact on the reduction of malaria cases and to its cost-effectiveness. The disease has never touched Friedman personally, but what his method lacks in warm fuzzies it makes up for in results.

“A lot of people have criticized this approach. They think if people aren’t particularly passionate about a cause, they don’t give,” Friedman said. “But I think a better way to look at it is, who is the most needy and where can your dollar be stretched the furthest? It is about doing as much good as possible, not doing a certain type of good.”